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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22441222">We Brothers Three</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kakushigo/pseuds/Kakushigo'>Kakushigo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Between Gods, Kings, and Ghosts (And the Men Who Love Them) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>S.C.I.谜案集 | S.C.I. Mystery (TV), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A family that murders together stay together, Dark!Shen Wei, Dark!Zhan Yao, Gen, I cannot be the only one who saw the parking lot scene in SCI and thought they were exes?, Mafia AU, Not so ex in this story, Ye Zun is still Ye Zun (and we love him)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:53:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22441222</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kakushigo/pseuds/Kakushigo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zhan Yao acquired his little brothers when he was only seven, but he knew then that he'd burn down the world to keep them safe.  Then they came into their powers and Zhan Yao realized they could rule the world together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Zhan Yao &amp; Shen Wei &amp; Ye Zun, Zhǎn Qítián/Zhào Jué</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Between Gods, Kings, and Ghosts (And the Men Who Love Them) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1614817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We Brothers Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/redwolf/gifts">redwolf</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I take elements from the dramas, I take elements from the books, I stir them together, dump some AU in there...</p><p>This entire series would not exist without redwolf, so I'm forever grateful to her. (though perhaps I should apologize for posting brotherly fluff before finishing the main event XD)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Zhan Yao is seven, he acquires a set of younger twin brothers.  It is not, strictly speaking, a legal adoption in any sense. His fathers, Zhan Qitian and Zhao Jue, simply come home with the scrawny, mud soaked, and underfed children.  In both their lines of work, such children are not exactly rarities, but since neither Zhan Qitian nor Zhao Jue had made these children such. They had figured they could at least bring the children home for a night, bathe them, and then make them someone else’s problem.  Their hands were full with Zhan Yao after all, who was far too smart for his age and already showing excellent abilities to follow in his parents' footsteps.</p><p>They were not expecting Zhan Yao to aggressively latch onto the non-verbal wraith like children garbed in black and white strips of cloth and sticky mud.  As the only son of two prestigious lines, Zhan Yao had been well spoiled his scant seven years and unused to being denied anything. It had not crossed his fathers’ minds that he would have any opinion about the twins, never mind such an undeniable fondness.</p><p>Zhan Yao had wrapped his hands around the twins’ smaller, bone thin hands and turned his dark eyes to his fathers.  “I’ve always wanted little brothers,” he tells them imperiously, as though he is the master of the house. “Thank you for getting me two of them.”  Neither twin says anything, but the one in white tries to edge behind his black clothed twin.</p><p>And well, that is that.  Zhan Yao has spoken and Zhan Qitian starts the process to forge documents to ‘legally’ adopt them.  </p><p>In nearly every way, Zhan Yao is an aggressively doting and over protective older brother.  While it is patently obvious that Zhao Jue and Zhan Qitian’s newly acquired children are twins, they don’t know which one is older, but they have to make a choice for the sake of forged birth certificates.  If it hadn’t been for the calligraphy on the inside of each twin’s arm, Zhao Jue and Zhan Qitian wouldn’t even know their names. The one in black is Shen Wei and the one in white is Ye Zun. The twins are about four or five and they can walk, but either they can’t talk or they haven’t wanted to talk- Zhao Jue and Zhan Qitian aren’t exactly sure. It wasn’t a problem they’d had with Zhan Yao, whose favorite word had been ‘no’ quite early on.</p><p>In the end, Shen Wei talks first.  For that, he gets named older twin, by only two minutes according to his birth certificate.  A study is converted into a bedroom and after further consideration, another study is also converted into a bedroom, so that each child has their own space.  Once the twins seem to realize that they're there to stay, they start opening up and Ye Zun quickly finds his voice. His older twin, on the other hand, tends to be much more soft spoken, but has a fondness for books only matched by Zhan Yao.  The two of them can often be found tucked into nooks and crannies around the house, deep into everything from dense textbooks to novels. Ye Zun, despite his often ill health (the very expensive doctors the Zhan-Zhao’s employ say his poor health is caused by lack of childhood nutrition, among other things), much prefers running wild outside.</p><p>As time goes on, habits are built.  Zhan Yao is always the first up. He will wake up Shen Wei, who wakes up Zhao Jue, and those two will start making the morning meal.  Then Zhan Yao wakes up Ye Zun, who runs laughing through the house, often waking up Zhan Qitian. They have their morning meal together.  Zhan Yao makes sure his little brothers are both dressed and ready for school, before walking them to their classes and dropping them off, then heading off to his own classes.  Zhan Qitian is a cop and keeps regular enough hours. Zhao Jue runs Zhuyin and definitely doesn’t keep regular hours, but he does try to be there for breakfast everyday. Being a mob boss isn't the most conducive to raising a family, but it works.</p><p>Until it doesn't.</p><p>The twins are eight when Shen Wei comes into his powers.  Some school yard bully pushes Ye Zun down into the dirt and then Shen Wei is above him, pulling a yanyuedao from thin air and severely injuring the bully.  Needless to say, it does not endear the twins to the school board.  Zhan Qitian quits the police force to homeschool all three of them and without the early morning of school wake up, it becomes patently obvious that if Zhan Yao is left to his own devices, he will sleep all day.  Usually, Ye Zun is very good at stopping this, since Zhan Yao is the ever indulgent big brother. If his didi wants to play, Zhan Yao will drag himself out of bed to play.</p><p>While Zhan Qitian can teach them arithmetic, Chinese, and even English, he doesn't know anything about Dixingren powers.  And it's patently obvious that his two adopted sons are Dixingren, even if Ye Zun's only ability right now seems to be mischief.  For all that Zhao Jue's powers have been compared to that of a Dixingren, the man himself is completely human. Zhan Qitian can't even leverage his former connections because he's supposed to be retired and his former co-workers aren't completely stupid (though they have broken bread with the Head of Zhuyin whenever Zhao Jue hosts dinner parties), which leaves searching out Dixingren to teach their twins up to Zhao Jue.  Zhan Qitian does hire a yanyuedao coach for Shen Wei though, which gradually becomes a Shen Wei and Ye Zun joint activity. Zhan Yao has little to no interest in the physical activities at all and could only be dragged away from his books by intense pleading from Ye Zun. Theoretically, Shen Wei could've done it too, except he'd never tried, content to let Zhan Yao do what he wanted.</p><p>Ye Zun was just a late bloomer with his power.  When Zhan Yao was sixteen and the twins were fourteen, Zhao Jue started letting Zhan Yao run parts of Zhuyin's business.  This meant that the twins were his vanguards, never more than a step away from their older brother. Zhan Yao was a natural- he could twist people around his fingers so easily, make them agree to anything he wanted, and then destroy them when he was done with them.  Sometimes, he didn’t even have to rely on his hypnotism to do so.</p><p>Of course, other crews in the area took notice and when one enemy gets smarter, the others tend to follow.  At that time, no one in the family knew that Shen Wei and Ye Zun could not be harmed by regular bullets. During negotiations, one of the enemies lieutenants gets uppity and pulls a gun on Zhan Yao.  Shen Wei blocks it with his body. Ye Zun thinks he has lost one or both of his brothers and doesn't react well. A heavy, golden staff appears in his hand as he launches himself at the first person. As soon as his weapon touches them, they dissolve and Ye Zun breathes them in, then licks his lips.  He's always been slightly jealous of Shen Wei's power, but now he has his own.  </p><p>When he's done with the room, only his brothers are still alive and Ye Zun feels...full and content.  He can feel the molasses like memories and experiences of everyone he consumed and some sit heavier in his gut then others.  They had always intended to betray Zhan Yao to send a message to Zhao Jue, Ye Zun doesn't regret killing them. And he's very glad to see both his older brothers completely unharmed by the attempted murder.  Perhaps a bit shaken up, but it's also not the first time they've both been threatened by a gun. It is the first time Shen Wei has actually been shot at though. Zhan Yao, in normal fashion, is more worried about his little brothers then himself.</p><p>And so the Black and White Robed Envoys are born.  Or, at least, that's what Zhan Yao calls them, because they are his Envoys.  (He takes special delight in crafting their outfits. Shen Wei tolerates it and Ye Zun insists on a dramatic cloak.)  They carry his messages to allies and enemies alike. There's another name on the street for them, though: The Ghost Killers.  Sometimes, in Ye Zun's case, it gets shortened to just "The Ghost" since he can get in any out of anywhere with Zhan Yao's messages and the white clock apparently helps with the image that he’s not nearly as alive as he ought to be.  If Zhan Yao has to send Shen Wei though, everyone who sees him will die. If he sends both Envoys together- groveling might save you, but it usually won't.</p><p>As a reward for handling the whole mess very well, Zhan Yao gets to go overseas for college, Shen Wei gets an entirely library, and Ye Zun gets a greenhouse.  Ye Zun adores his greenhouse and delights in finding new things to grow in it. Sometimes, Shen Wei brings him back body parts for fertilizers, which Ye Zun happily accepts.  There are different parts to his greenhouse- a place for poisons, a place for fruits and veggies, a place for hybrids, and Ye Zun's personal favorite: the orchid room. The orchid room quickly becomes the siblings hang out place, Zhan Yao puts his easel up there, someone hangs a hammock and puts wicker chairs in there, a small bookshelf is added- it quickly becomes their place to exist quietly together.  Ye Zun will garden, Zhan Yao will sketch or paint, and Shen Wei will read. Their fathers don't enter without permission, more than content to have the rest of the house to themselves.</p><p>When Zhan Yao finally heads to America for college, he finds he misses having his brothers underfoot.  It’s the furthest the three of them have ever been from each other since the twins joined the family and unlike Shen Wei, he can’t pop across the ocean with a portal.  He loves his college, but he keeps going back to his dorm room and feeling off. And calling them everyday is rather expensive, even though both his fathers would probably understand. </p><p>Shen Wei appearing with Ye Zun beside him in the middle of an American university shouldn’t have been the highlight of his week, but it was.  Ye Zun fit in better, with his long hair up in a messy bun and bright colored sweaters, but Shen Wei was just a welcome sight as their youngest brother.  They went out to eat and suddenly, the twins visiting became a normal thing. They would stop by at random times- Zhan Yao eventually just emailed them his class schedule so they wouldn’t arrive in the middle of his classes again- and drag Zhan Yao from his class work to do something.  Everything from visiting every single library in New York City (Shen Wei) to spray painting some buildings (Ye Zun), done in stolen hours between two very different time zones.</p><p>Then Ye Zun, in all his adorable little brother-ness, launched his grand plan: getting their fathers to agree to send the twins to college in America too.  So Shen Wei wouldn’t be constantly jumping the ocean just to see their brother, you know? Ye Zun had picked up quite a few powers from eating people, but teleportation unfortunately hadn’t been one of them yet.  Shen Wei decided to study genetics and biology while Ye Zun meandered through botany, geology, and business courses. Zhan Yao goes on to get his Masters and Doctorate, Shen Wei goes back to China to finish his degrees, and Ye Zun technically never finishes any one degree, but he does become a web novel writer.</p><p>Ye Zun starts dating during college, running through several America boyfriends, girlfriends, and datemates- though between his coursework and his older brothers, they’re all scared away.  Zhan Yao has exactly one boyfriend and one girlfriend, before deciding that he probably swings both ways, but he has a very, very low tolerance for stupidity. Shen Wei just brings home more books, to the relief of their fathers.  Adding a library on their house is much easier than accepting someone new into the folds of their family.</p><p>Eventually, Zhan Yao is the permanent head of Zhuyin, bearing the nickname his baba had given him when he was just a newborn baby in Zhao Jue’s arms- The Angel.  His day job is a respected psychology professor at Dragon University. His focus is on hypnosis and he publishes several books on the subject. Shen Wei is a professor at the same university, though in a completely different department.  The biology and genetics building was across the campus from psychology, but the two would often meet up for lunch.</p><p>Ye Zun visited on occasion, confusing students who had seen Shen Wei.  For all that the twins looked identical, their personal styles were vastly different.  Sometimes, though, Ye Zun decided to slide on a suit, cut his hair, and find a pair of glasses to make him match the mild mannered professor look that Shen Wei had going on.  On these occasions, only Zhan Yao could tell his brothers apart. Eventually, Shen Wei just started including his twin and older brother in the syllabus to stop some of the confusion and rumors that he was dating his older brother just because Zhan Yao had never really outgrown needing to take care of his little twin brothers.</p><p>This was their life and it was quite peaceful, especially if you considered each brothers’ personal kill count.  Though with Zhan Yao, he usually just had hypnotized muscle do the actual killing. Why get his hands dirty if he didn’t have to?  </p><p>The only source of worry in their life was the SCD.  They had sort of mitigated the threat of two actually competent police officers in charge of the division by planting Chu Shizhu within the ranks.  Unfortunately, unlike their predecessors, neither Zhao Yunlan nor Bai Yutong were easily bought. Zhan Yao had toyed with the idea of hypnotizing both of them, but then they’d brought the damn snake Yashou into the department and that idea had to be abandoned.  Zhan Yao wasn’t Dixingren or Yashou, so unfortunately his powers could be detected and unraveled by a Dixingren with the powers of hypnotism or a snake Yashou’s innate hypnotic skills. Both of which were incredibly rare, but Zhan Yao had seen Zhu Hong’s personnel file himself- the woman was snake Yashou.  So for now the SCD still existed.  </p><p>But someday, Zhan Yao and his brothers would destroy it and Zhuyin's grip of the city would be complete.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chinese terms:<br/>didi- youngest brother<br/>Baba- modern word for father<br/>yanyuedao- a Chinese version of a glaive.  I used this instead of glaive because I felt that it fit better.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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